Rocking Christmas Read online

  ROCKING

  CHRISTMAS

  A Reckless Release Story by

  Cassandra Lawson

  Copyright ©2019 Cassandra Lawson

  All Rights Reserved

  Cover designed by J.N. Sheats

  Proofreading by Kendra’s Editing and Book Services

  This book is a work of fiction. All characters and events are creations of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental.

  The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by federal law enforcement agencies and is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Also by Cassandra Lawson

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Author’s Note

  About the Author

  Also by Cassandra Lawson

  Reckless Release Series

  Rocking Standby

  Rock & Regrets

  Rocking Perfection

  Rock Her Crazy

  Reckless Release Companion Novels

  Thin Walls

  Body Shots and Betrayal

  Spells That Bind Series

  Sinfully Spellbound

  Shamelessly Spellbound

  Seductively Spellbound

  Undeniably Hellbound

  Inescapably Hellbound

  Reluctantly Hellbound

  Scandalously Hellbound

  Hopelessly Hellbound

  Irresistibly Moonbound

  Death and Christmas

  Love Without Batteries Series

  Dirty at 30

  Naughty at 30

  Sultry at 30

  Moon Virus Series

  Raven’s Blood

  Embrace the Heat

  Seducing Death

  Shattered Restraint

  Impulsive Destiny

  Untamed Winter

  Inevitable Darkness

  Psy-Vamp Series

  Vampires and Vixens

  Safe Hex With a Vampire

  Vampires Prefer Blondes

  The Vampire Will See You Now

  Wanton with a Vampire

  Vampire in Geek’s Clothing

  Wicked Crazy Vampire Love

  A Vampire Christmas

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you, April, Kari, Ria, and Yvonne, my amazing beta readers, who worked hard to help me get this Christmas story ready in time to release this year. I also want to thank my readers who asked for more from the members of Reckless Release.

  Chapter 1

  Xander

  Christmas is my favorite time of year, and this was going to be the best Christmas ever. How did I know that? I would be spending it with the woman I love. This was going to be my third Christmas with Cami in my life—my second since I’d convinced her to marry me. I would wake up on Christmas morning with my sexy wife by my side, and then we would have the most amazing waffles known to humankind. No exaggeration, the woman was a genius when it came to waffle making, and she’d taught me the skill.

  “Xander!” Gage called out from the front of the house. The members of my band all had keys to each other’s homes, and none of us were big on knocking.

  “I’m in the family room, decorating my tree!” I yelled back as I put the final ornament on and climbed off the stepladder.

  “Did you honestly need a tree this big?” Gage asked when he entered the room. “Seriously, dude, this tree is bigger than the one Austin bought.”

  I stepped back to look at the tree and shook my head. “Nah, Austin’s is bigger. I’m sure it’s bigger.”

  “Not by much, if it’s bigger it all,” Gage argued. “At least, he has the excuse of having a kid.”

  “Riley isn’t old enough to appreciate a big tree. I got this tree because I love Christmas more than anyone in the band. An even bigger tree would have been better.” I shrugged. “Maybe next year.”

  “You are a true lover of all things holiday,” Gage agreed.

  He was right about that. It wasn’t just Christmas. I loved every holiday, and I looked for any excuse to celebrate. Waffles also happened to be the perfect food for any holiday event.

  “We’ll be late for our benefit show tonight if you don’t jingle your bells out of here,” Gage warned.

  “Jingle my bells?” I asked with a laugh. “Is that kind of like playing with my balls? We may be good friends, but I am not about to play with them in front of you. If you saw my junk, you’d be jealous. We can’t have that kind of competition in the band.”

  Gage shook his head and laughed. “I don’t know how Cami puts up with you. You’re a total dork.”

  “Cami thinks I’m a lovable rogue,” I told him as I grabbed my Santa hat and headed toward the door.

  “I see you’ve been reading her books again,” he remarked.

  “Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it,” I told him. “I learn all sorts of interesting things from reading my girl’s books.”

  It was true. A man could learn a lot about what his woman wants in bed from her romance novels. This was especially true with the dirtier ones. That works out well since I like the dirty ones best, and I enjoyed surprising Cami with interesting tricks I picked up from her favorite books.

  Rather than scoffing at the idea, Gage looked intrigued. “Really?”

  “Oh, yeah,” I assured him. “You should skim through some of Bentley’s books. You might learn a thing or two. It keeps things interesting if you change it up or surprise them now and then.”

  “Damnit,” Gage muttered. “I’m never going to hear the end of it if I take your advice on this and it all works out, am I?”

  I shrugged, pretending he might be wrong. Oh yeah, I would definitely rub it in if he took my advice. He’d tell me if it worked, even knowing that. “Call it a Christmas gift from me to Bentley. Her pleasure is on me this time.” I frowned. “That sounded much pervier than I meant it to sound.”

  Gage laughed. “That was going a bit too far for a happily married man.”

  “Are Austin and Harley waiting outside?” I asked.

  “No, they’re going to meet us at the club,” Gage replied. “Harley wanted to stop for dinner with Jared first, and Austin had to watch Riley so Piper could finish up some work. Can you believe we’re all married?”

  “It is hard to believe,” I admitted. “We’re all pretty damn lucky.”

  “Yes, we are,” he agreed. “Now, remind me of the details regarding the benefit show we’re doing tonight. Is this one for the food bank?”

  “These last two are for kids with incarcerated parents,” I explained. “Cami mentioned how a lot of families don’t have money for Christmas presents when one parent is in jail. It’s not fair for those kids to suffer. I wanted to do something, like buy a bunch of presents. Cami put me in touch with a charity that handles this kind of thing because she figured we could do more with a benefit show or two.”

  “Cami is something else,” Gage remarked.

  He had that right. My wife cared a lot about those in need and was a kick-ass child psychologist. Her job was hard, and I knew she sometimes took it hard when she couldn’t help a kid she was working with. Still, she loved what she did. It wasn’t always easy being married to a woman who loved her job that much because it meant she couldn’t travel with the band, but
I’d never ask her to quit.

  Gage was lucky because his wife traveled with us when we were on the road. Harley’s husband, Jared, worked security for the band. When they’d first started dating, he’d taken a leave of absence since it was a conflict of interest, but we’d convinced him to work for us instead of the security firm that had initially employed him. That left only me and Austin missing our wives when the band toured. In Austin’s case, his wife not only had a job, she also had a young daughter to care for.

  “You and Cami should have kids,” Gage said out of the blue as he pulled his car out of my driveway.

  “I’m more than happy being Uncle Xander. Cami and I aren’t having kids any time soon.”

  “You haven’t even discussed the idea?” he asked.

  “Nope,” I replied. “Cami is much too busy with work, and I know how hard being a father is on Austin. We’re good.”

  “Not even a little talk about having a baby?” Gage asked. “Don’t you ever look at Austin with Riley and think to yourself I want that? It seems pretty awesome to me.”

  “Did Cami tell Bentley she wants to have a baby? Wait! Did Cami tell Bentley she’s pregnant?”

  Gage shook his head and muttered something about me being an idiot. “No, dumbass. Bentley and Cami have talked about how nice it would be if they had kids at the same time before. They’ve been friends for years.”

  “And Bentley’s knocked up?”

  Gage needed to get to the point.

  “Not yet,” Gage replied. “Actually, she hasn’t agreed to have a baby yet. It’s been on my mind a lot. I think she’s going to say yes. Am I crazy for asking Bentley to have a baby at this point in our lives?”

  I grinned. “Nah, and I hope she says yes. I can’t wait to have another little rocker calling me Uncle Xan.”

  Chapter 2

  Cami

  I’d planned to make it to Xander’s show, but as often happened, my job got in the way. Mine was a satisfying, yet exhausting, profession. It hadn’t been quite so draining in the beginning. In my early days, I’d thrived on the exhilaration of helping kids. Now, my failures weighed me down. Not only that, the stresses of my colleagues weighed me down.

  I’d spent my evening sitting with a colleague whose patient hadn’t shown up. That happened. Parents forgot to bring their kids in, and teens didn’t show up for a variety of reasons. In this case, the patient had run away from his group home. I knew a lot about the teen’s history since I’d been initially contacted about taking his case. I’d been scaling back my patient load, so I’d referred him to Sheila, a colleague I trusted to take good care of him.

  We were seated at a table in the bar just down the street from our offices. Christmas lights were strung up around the room, and there was even a small tree on the bar. Christmas music played a little too loudly. The Christmas music seemed out of place. This wasn’t one of those lively bars filled with laughter. I called it the grumpy bar. I’d been here several times, and none of the patrons ever cracked a smile. Seriously, I almost wondered if they had an unspoken rule that barred happy people.

  “I knew this was coming,” Sheila muttered as she sipped her third drink. “He told me he was having problems in the group home, and I tried to get him to talk to his caseworker. He’s talked about running away and becoming a famous musician. That’s what he usually talks about. I don’t know if that’s really his dream or just a way to avoid talking about losing his mom. It set off warning bells when he told me he had problems at the group home, but I didn’t see this coming. That’s what bothers me the most. All those obvious warning signs, and I still didn’t see this coming.”

  We carefully avoided mentioning his name, and Sheila tried to avoid revealing anything I didn’t know from the kid’s file.

  “Do you think there’s some kind of abuse in the group home?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” she admitted with a sigh. “He could simply hate it there because he feels trapped in the system. You know there’s virtually no chance of a fifteen-year-old foster kid getting adopted. I know it’s important to keep my distance, but it’s getting harder.”

  “It gets harder to keep your distance the longer you work in this field.”

  Sheila studied me for a moment before asking, “Are you having trouble maintaining a professional distance?”

  I nodded. “It’s why I’ve been accepting fewer new patients. I’ve been considering taking a break, maybe even traveling with my husband’s band for a little while.”

  “You should,” she encouraged me. “It could do you some good to take a break.”

  She was right, though it wouldn’t be as easy as just taking a leave of absence. It would take time to get my patients into a position where I could transfer some to another therapist.

  “It’s a definite possibility,” I agreed. “Maybe you should consider taking some time off, too.”

  Sheila was in her mid-fifties, so she’d dealt with the stress of our profession much longer than I had. Admittedly, she usually seemed better at maintaining distance from her patients.

  She waved off my suggestion. “No, I’ll be fine. I’m going through my ten-year cycle. It seems that, once a decade, I start taking things a little too personally. My husband is planning a big trip for us over the summer, and those trips usually get me out of my professional slumps. I just have to survive the next six months without losing my mind.”

  “Maybe all I need is a vacation,” I mused. “I didn’t even take much time off after I got married. A belated honeymoon could be just what I need.”

  She smiled after finishing her drink. “That’s a good idea. Try a vacation first. Sometimes, all you need is a little break to reset your mind.”

  “How about if I drive you home?” I asked. “You’ve had a bit too much to drink to get behind the wheel.”

  She shook her head. “That’s all right. My son should be here to pick me up any minute now. He works close to here and offered to drive me home after his shift.”

  We chatted a little longer until her son arrived. Sheila insisted I didn’t need to stay with her, but it felt wrong leaving her alone in a bar when she was already feeling down, especially in a bar where the guy at the next table was singing along with Santa Baby as he barely held back his tears.

  After saying my goodbyes to Sheila, I headed home. I figured I would beat Xander back there since Reckless Release went on at nine, and he usually hung around after a show. Xander was no longer interested in hooking up with groupies, but he loved the attention of his adoring fans. Before every tour, Xander dreaded the travel and the busy schedule, but he was truly in his element when he took the stage. I loved watching Xander perform, and I tried to make it to every show I possibly could.

  I was surprised to see Xander’s car parked out front when I arrived, and I smiled when I walked in to find him lounging shirtless on the sofa. Xander had the lean, athletic build of a runner. In typical rock star fashion, he had tattoos along his chest and arms. His black hair was messy and getting longer. He’d shaved off his beard a couple weeks ago, and he now had a sexy bit of stubble.

  “Hey there, handsome,” I greeted him.

  Xander immediately got to his feet and moved toward me. “Are you coming on to me, babe?”

  “Every chance I get.” I couldn’t get enough of my husband.

  Desire flared in his brown eyes, and his arms slipped around my waist. His lips lingered close to mine as he murmured, “Why don’t we take this into the bedroom? I’ve got a package for you to unwrap.”

  I laughed and swatted his chest. “Too cheesy.”

  “Let’s try this.” He bit my lower lip before continuing. “I’ve been missing you all day. I want to fuck you either over the back of the sofa or in our bed.”

  “Yes, please,” I whispered.

  Xander chuckled before scooping me up in his arms and carrying me upstairs. “I think we’ll go for the bed.”

  Chapter 3

  Xander

  It didn
’t matter how long I was with Cami; I didn’t think I’d ever get enough of her. My wife was the total package—smart, beautiful, and she had a huge heart.

  Once in the bedroom, I set her on her feet and stroked her cheek. “I want you so much, babe.”

  “More than waffles?” she asked.

  “Oh, yeah,” I replied. “You beat waffles any day of the week.”

  “You do say the sweetest things,” she whispered just before I kissed her.

  My mouth lingered on hers as we each quickly stripped out of our clothes. No matter how many times I had Cami, I always wanted more. Once we were both naked, I backed her toward the bed until her legs hit the edge. She sat and started to scoot back, but I stopped her. “Not yet, babe,” I murmured with a hand on her lower back. “I’ve got something else in mind.”

  Dropping to my knees beside the bed, I ran my hands from her knees up her inner thighs to spread her wide for me before I took my place between her legs. My tongue stroked from her opening to her clit as she reached down to grip my hair. I loved going down on my wife—loved the needy sounds she made and the way I could quickly bring her over the edge with the right touch. I should say, I could when I wanted to. As for right now? I wanted to draw things out.

  I savored her clit as two of my fingers thrust inside her, changing things up every time I felt her start to tighten with her orgasm. It wasn’t only her I was teasing. Hearing my wife’s desperate whimpers, and the way she begged for her release, drove me closer to the edge, as well.

  After several long minutes, I decided I’d tortured us both more than enough, and I licked her clit faster while my fingers stroked the front of her channel. It wasn’t long until she screamed, and her pussy pulsed around my fingers.

  Once I’d worked her through the last of her orgasm, I stood and placed my hands under her ass to re-situate her. Her legs rested against my chest as she reached between us to position the head of my dick at her entrance. Our moans echoed through the room as I held her legs and slid into her.